“The critics said it couldn’t be done, but the vision and determination of General David Petraeus have brought greater security and cause for optimism to the people of Iraq. He is The Sunday Telegraph’s Person of the Year.” This British newspaper has better perspective, at least on this subject, than some stateside magazines.
All posts by Phil
Wodehouse a Favorite in Russia
P G Wodehouse’s Russian translations were banned by Stalin in 1929, but back in 1990 that ban was lifted and now Russian readers love his books.
“Russians need freedom and laughter very much,” she said. “They had none for so long. Wodehouse encapsulates this spirit of freedom.
“He also saves souls. His books are all about innocence and joy and purity.
“The reader is lifted into an English paradise, which many Russians believe is the best paradise of all.”
(belated referral notice for Books, Inq.)
Shorter Classics
Frank Wilson writes about a publishing company who have abridged some of the great works of the past. He begins:
The last commandment in Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing (Morrow, $14.95) declares that an author should “try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” The people at Phoenix Press think a number of classic authors were negligent in observing this rule. Anna Karenina, for instance, weighs in at a whopping 800-plus pages. Who can possibly hope to read that and still have time to watch Dancing With the Stars? . . . And there’s the rub, as Hamlet might not say, if a Phoenix editor thought better of it. There is nothing inherently wrong with what Somerset Maugham called “the useful art of skipping.” Maugham himself in fact helped produce a series of abridged classics in 1948 called “Great Novelists and Their Novels.”
How much skipping do you do in your reading? I have a hard time with it, but I have done it. I remember skipping chapter 13 of The Silmarillion.
Great Reading List for Two or More
Sherry has a good, long list of kid-lit books for group reading, sorted by theme or topic, such as “Aspiring pianists,” “Best friend moves away,” “Dad skips out or is missing,” and “Girls pursuing popularity.”
Does a Decline in Reading Really Matter?
Scott comments on an article in the New Yorker which appears to argue for reading as one might argue for taking vitamins. Can’t you see it’s better for us all? You really ought to read your books. Scott says, “I’m not really all that bothered by the idea that reading will one day perhaps be confined to a ‘reading class,’ primarily because, as far as literature is concerned, it more or less already is. Thus, those of us who read works of literature on a regular basis, who don’t even necessarily read ‘for pleasure’ but out of a deeply felt need that makes it seem impossible to us that reading might someday disappear, are no doubt even now practicing what seems to non-readers an ‘arcane hobby.'”
In the end, let those who want to read, read what they want, and stop whining about it.
Unplug
I actually did a little shopping the day after Christmas, in part because one of my girl’s presents came with dead batteries and in part because I hoped to save a little on a things the children will enjoy but don’t fit the personal gift model (replacing the back yard swings). I didn’t save anything–well, maybe a little. I bought a couple early birthday gifts. One of my daughters has a birthday in February, and I briefly thought to ask her if she missed a gift at Christmas, but I didn’t want to encourage her to be discontent, especially after she declared this year to be the best Christmas ever (she got Little Debbie Swiss Rolls from her uncle). How could I ask her to think about how the best Christmas ever could be improved by one more gift? I hope her birthday will be the best ever with the large set of Tinkertoys I got her. And a chocolate cake, naturally.
I also had to go out today to return a gift my sweet, sweet wife gave me and was unable to return herself after she learned she could get it from a friend for less. Now I have to correct a problem caused by the return. The store gave us back about $50 more than we deserve. At least, the traffic wasn’t bad.
I received a toolbox for Christmas, but it wasn’t loaded with books, so I’m disappointed. Bill Reichart talks about just such disappointments and other Christmas hangovers and refers to a 1991 book called, Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season.
Christmas Story Director Killed by Drunk Driver
I missed this news from several months ago and heard it again today as part of an immigration discussion. Bob Clark, the director of the popular holiday film A Christmas Story (as well as a variety of silly or stupid movies), was killed by an illegal immigrant who was driving drunk on April 4. I’m not one to call for rounding up all illegal immigrants and kicking them out, but it seems to me basic access points should be enforced. No one here illegally should be allowed to drive, and transportation workers, meaning truck drivers from other countries, should be properly trained on the rules of the road in both countries. Is that not common sense?
Quotations from 2007
The Literary Saloon points out a list of sometimes funny, sometimes nasty quotes from contemporary authors, that is, authors who are not dead yet.
Keep Silence
“Didn’t know you come to save us, Lord;
to take our sins away.
Our eyes was blind, we couldn’t see,
we didn’t know who You was.”
That’s one of many reasons for all mortal flesh to keep silence.
“Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,
We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;
Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly?
O come, let us adore Him . . .”
Merry Christmas.
Atheists Encourage Faith in the Lord
Frank Wilson notes that Philip Pullman was right about C.S. Lewis. He links to an article in the Canadian press by author Michael Coren who says the attacks against Christianity encouraged him to trust Jesus Christ.
What became apparent to me was that the opposition to faith was as unappealing and bland as faith was appealing and thrilling. I read, prayed and thought myself into faith more than 20 years ago. It was gradual but inevitable. Miracles occurred but they need not have. I do not need a miracle to remind me that water quenches my thirst. Christ was there in my life, with me and in me and around me. Atheists showed me the way. God bless the little devils.